New to programming, well kind of..
 

Alright so, i have been learning on and off on C++ for about 3 years. I can read it you know if like one of my friends shows me his latest, but I cant do anything in it. Its always been too complex for me to get too well. So about a week ago I started in python and so far I love it. I cant do a whole lot but its so nice and the source code is easy to read and nice a pretty looking hehe :* . I like to make little programs that dont do a whole lot, but i would also like to do web dev. and make larger programs, you know just get good at it. But i have a couple questions

#1) What is the difference between a scripting and an a application language?
#2) What are some good tips for a beginner, you know good practices and habits?
#3) Should I stay with python or should I just power learn C++ and hold off on python?
#4) Any other tips?

Oh and how do i make a program not end until enter is hit in python?

Re: New to programming, well kind of..
 

1) Scripting is sort of a vague term. I think you are referring to Interpreted Vs. Compiled (try googling it)
2) Idle is your friend. It provides many of the benefits of a lisp REPL, and it has a decent editor to boot.
3) I would stick with python. Python is much easier to learn, and all the extra speed gained by C++ in everyday applications are not going to outweigh the extra time it takes to write in C++
4) Google and the python website documentation section are also your friends.

try taking input and just ignoring the result, the program should pause while it is waiting for input. I'll leave the actual method for you to find, but it is in the python tutorial.

http://docs.python.org/tut/tut.html

Re: New to programming, well kind of..
 

As I'm sure you know, the best way to learn programming is to actually do stuff. Python is a good choice of language for rapid application development (RAD). With the interactive interpreter, you can type in code and see instant results. This, together with the fact that Python is far more straightforward, elegant, and flexible than C++ makes it a much better choice of language for learning how to program. In short: forget C++ for now, and concentrate on Python. Of course, this is just my own unbiased opinion ;)

1.) Python can be used as a scripting language, say, for scripting games. Civilization IV is an example of a game which can be scripted using Python. But, the term "scripting language" suggests a language which lacks power. This isn't the case with Python, it's a powerful language and can be used to develop fully-fledged applications.

2.) Quite a general question, so difficult to give a specific answer to. But, my advice would be to buy a couple of good books, read code, write code, and help others. If you have a question related to Python, go ahead and ask in the #python IRC channel on freenode, or post a topic on the Python mailing list (comp.lang.python).

I suggested buying books as some people find them more convenient to study from. However, if you're happy to just read online tutorials, you can go a long way by doing that. A good starting pont would be 'A Byte of Python', available at http://www.ibiblio.org/swaroopch/byteofpython/read/

I could ramble on all day, so I'll cut it short there. Hope this helps you get going. To answer your last question, try typing raw_input() at the end of your file.

Re: New to programming, well kind of..
 

I would say the main difference between a scripting language and a programming language would be the need to compile; a script needs only to be ran, while a program needs to be compiled. Java would be the black sheep and the exception to that rule on both sides.

Re: New to programming, well kind of..
 

Thanks, you guys helped a lot, with everything and yeah the raw_input() at the end fixed it. Thanks!!